The Cincinnati Reds had a busy morning, making four roster moves prior to their afternoon contest against the Detroit Tigers. They’ve activated Ben Lively from the COVID-19 injured list, called up Carson Spiers from Double-A, returned Connor Phillips to Triple-A, and placed Tejay Antone on the 15-day injured list with elbow discomfort.
Let’s start with Tejay Antone, who exited last night’s game against the Tigers in the middle of the inning with elbow discomfort. He faced three batters in the game before exiting and he only threw three fastballs. Those three fastballs were down about 3-4 MPH from where he’s been since joining Louisville on August 2nd (where we began to have pitch tracking data for him). It’s a limited sample size with just three of them, but given that we have hindsight – that seems concerning.
After the game, Antone told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer, “It just kind of flared up. It’s nothing serious, I don’t think. Same thing I’ve been rehabbing the whole time. Kind of the same spot and everything.”
Let’s hope that it’s nothing serious and that Antone is right. But even if he is, it seems likely that this is going to cost him the rest of the season.
Ben Lively is being activated today after missing the last two weeks on the COVID-19 injured list. While he is not starting today in Detroit, he’s expected to come into the game at some point and throw multiple innings.
Carson Spiers has already made two big league starts for the Reds. But the next time he enters a game will be different. In those other two outings he was a “replacement” player for someone on the COVID-19 injured list. Today saw Cincinnati officially place him on the 40-man roster in order to call him up. Moving forward when he’s sent down he will be optioned, and he gets a pay bump because of his 40-man addition (while in the minors).
Connor Phillips, who started the game last night in the Reds victory, has been sent back to Triple-A. He was returned, not optioned, as he was only up on the active roster as a “replacement” player for someone on the COVID-19 injured list.
I posted about his drop in velo on 2 posts here last night.
Not good signs combined with soreness for a guy that hasn’t thrown alot after that 2nd surgery.
The Spiers decision makes sense – he’ll be 26 next season, and if he’s a AAAA pitcher, fine – otherwise, use the various options next season to see if he can stick in whatever role. They’ll have quite a few 40-man/Rule 5 protection decisions in any case.
Asking only half in jest….. What happens if after the fact somebody figures out the Reds (or another team) due to all special roster shuffling actually had too many active players for a game or played an ineligible player during a game?
Oh brother … that would be about a dozen scrambled eggs all over somebody’s face … 😮
I was wondering this to. Does MLB have a compliance/audit dept to review all these transactions?
Antone out for a minimum of 15 days with 16 games left. Barring a miracle, he’s done until 2024. And I’m fine with that. I wish him the best and want to see him fully healed and effective next year.
don’t forget the playoffs 🙂
Glad to see this. 15 days should be enough to close him down for the year. Time to start thinking about next year.
I’m curious about the mechanics of Antone and if there is something that is contributing to his troubles.
When he changed his mechanics right before moving into the MLB, one of the changes was a quick snap of the ball from his belt level to his hat level right before beginning his throw. That is a motion that is quite stressful on the elbow when done quickly, especially with ball weight. It’s starting with the arms in an “M” positive and then going quickly to a “W” position. It gives some bounce back snap on the throw but it is not a natural movement. His problems started soon after the change.
Guys like Nolan Ryan who pitched until the nursing home didn’t have the M to W snap movement.
Elly’s bad defense again at ss.
Not a fan of burning our only lefty in inning #2.
Anyone else think that EDLC needs to be moved to CF for next season? The arm and wheels would play very nicely out there.